Italian Grand Prix 2018 – Qualifying

In the opening session, both drivers set consistently quicker laptimes, with Sergey P11 and Lance P13 at the end of Q1

Both drivers set one-timed lap each in Q2, with Sergey crossing the line P12 and Lance P8, taking the team into Q3 for the first time in 2018

Lance set one timed-lap at the end of Q3, crossing the line P10 to record his and the team’s best qualifying performance of the year

Paddy Lowe, Chief Technical Officer: It has been a good day. It’s the first qualifying this year that we’ve got into Q3 so congratulations to the whole team for getting the car into good shape for this particular circuit, and especially to Lance. A terrific lap in Q2 got him into Q3. Both drivers did a fantastic job overall. This is one of the trickier sessions in the year for qualifying because track position is so important for the slipstream and there’s a lot of games going on out on track to optimise that. Both drivers did a superb job and drove great laps to get the times when they needed to. We’re now in good positions for the race with tenth and 12th and we look forward to seeing what we can do with that tomorrow.

Lance Stroll: To digest a good result like that, tonight will feel really good. I will go and give my guys a hug. I was giggling inside my helmet. I don’t think it is just the circuit, as on any track it depends on day to day. Sometimes you get in a rhythm and it just comes all together, and today that is how it went. We were in good shape from Q1 onwards and I just built up to it, put in a good lap in Q2 to get into Q3 and then I did what I could and tenth was my maximum. Tomorrow is going to be a challenging day no doubt, as we are suffering from straightline speed and some of our competitors will be on us tomorrow, but my mindset is always the same and I am going to go for it and give it my all and whatever happens, happens.

Sergey Sirotkin: It wasn’t the best session for me personally. The performance we had yesterday was a lot more promising than today. It’s been all about slipstreams and how you get them, which car you’re behind and how much of a gap you leave to them in front. I think when you concentrate so much on this it can affect the car balance and how it’s performing at different parts of the track. I think we lost a bit of the base performance and honestly, I think we lost a lot more time. In my last run, the slipstream I got wasn’t optimal. It was a pure time loss in some areas and I was getting a different corner balance, so the car was here, there and everywhere. It was a tough session and I’m not too happy.